…Automating a workflow is in itself a workflow.…There are a series of steps that you'll…go through each time you create a SharePoint workflow.…Whether it's a simple workflow or a complex workflow, this…is a good habit to follow this series of steps.…First, you'll want to document the workflow actions and conditions.…You want to capture the steps that will be taken in the workflow.…Another way to think of this is, you're capturing requirements.…If you're creating a workflow that you're the only…user, it's still a good idea to do this.…

And I'll show you several ways that you can capture requirements, your actions and…conditions for the workflow, using different tools…that are part of the the Office Suite.…The second thing is you'll want to choose a workflow type.…And there are a range of types.…There are reusable workflows. There are site workflows.…There are built-in workflows in SharePoint.…And then there are also…custom workflows which is where we'll spend most of our time in this course.…Once we've chosen a workflow type so we have a broad direction, now we want to…

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Author

Released

1/21/2014

See how to boost your team's productivity using custom workflows in Microsoft SharePoint. Gini Courter explains how to design workflows in SharePoint Designer, and eliminate inefficiencies and leverage automation to avoid repetitive tasks. You'll learn to create a simple form for your workflow, set up email notifications, and work with list and utility actions. Gini also shows how to design workflows that are easy to maintain and reusable, and deploy your workflows into the wild in SharePoint.

Topics include:

Automating workflows

Documenting workflows with Sticky Notes, Excel, and Visio

Driving workflow interactions with forms

Using workflow actions

Making choices and controlling flow with conditions

Creating a simple form

Using email notifications

Pausing and stopping workflows with core actions

Building a dictionary

Creating a site workflow

Deploying workflows

Creating workflows visually

Skill Level Intermediate

6h 51m

Duration

660,890

Views

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Q: In the video "Creating a workflow with conditions," the email workflow generates the email and successfully changes the value in AreaCalc but the workflow does not complete, and raises no errors. How can I fix this?

A: There are different workflow configurations for SharePoint 2013; some use the Workflow Manager 1.0, which does not appropriately handle changes to Boolean (Yes/No) columns in workflows. The fix is to change any columns with the Yes/No data type used as workflow triggers to the Number data type.

FIX:

1. Modify the data type of the AreaCalc, HRCalc, and FinanceCalc columns (which currently use the Yes/No data type) to Number.

2. Set the default value of each Calc column to 0.

3. Modify the calculations of these columns using an IF function to assign 0 to No (False) and 1 to Yes (True). For AreaCalc, the formula would be: =IF(ISBLANK(Area Approval),0,1)

4. In the Wait For Field Change in Current Item workflow actions, modify the conditions in the workflow to trigger based value of the Calc field changing to 1, for example, AreaCalc = 1.

After making these changes, test your workflow again.

NOTES:

You could choose any number values you wish, however, using 0 for False and 1 for True are standard and therefor make your workflow a bit easier to understand.

If you experienced the described behavior in your workflow, you may wish to avoid using the True/False data type while you're designing custom lists for your organization.

Q: Where do I get InfoPath Designer 2013 (mentioned in the "What you need to know" video)?

A: InfoPath Designer 2013 is not currently available as a free download
from Microsoft, and it has never been sold as a standalone product. You
have two options for obtaining InfoPath:

If
you have Office 2013 Pro, you may already have InfoPath Designer 2013,
but it may not have been installed. Try reinstalling Office and choose
to install InfoPath Designer.

Sign
up for a free 30-day trial of one of the Office 365 plans that include
InfoPath Designer—for example, Office 365 Enterprise (E3) Edition,
which also includes SharePoint, or Office 365 ProPlus, which does not
include SharePoint. After the 30-day trial you will need to pay a
monthly fee for Office 365.